The journey of cementing his name as the most electrifying man in the industry wasn’t immune from its own sets of challenges, as growing up in the 70s was pretty hard for Dwayne Johnson. Even though the Black Adam star’s dad, Rocky Johnson was a renowned name in the pro wrestling world, both the actor and his family had to bear financial issues at the time.
But his father’s tough love for the actor as a child and financial issues weren’t the only obstacles that the actor had to overcome as a kid, as he opened up about facing racial discrimination in the 70s.
Dwayne Johnson experienced severe racial discrimination while growing up
Being a half-Samoan and half-Black resulted in Dwayne Johnson facing extreme racism during his time growing up. Considering that the actor had to keep on shifting places from time to time alongside his family, the actor didn’t experience the most luxurious childhood. During the time he was around 11 years old, moving from place to place was a regular occurrence for the actor. And considering that throughout the South, racial prejudice was pretty prevalent in the 70s, the actor had to experience the worse of it. He said,
“Discrimination, yes, growing up. I lived in the south, at that time, I was a 70s baby, in those areas, in the world of wrestling, your wrestling in small towns, living in trailer parks. And kids are looking at me like, what are you? Are you Mexican, black, something? So yea, that happened.”
But discrimination wasn’t the only thing the Black Adam star had to endure while growing up, as the actor once opened up that he was often mistaken for being a female during his younger days.
Dwayne Johnson was often mistaken for being a girl as a child
Although it is quite common for some people to misidentify a kid’s gender before they hit puberty, it’s quite surprising in Johnson’s case, considering he comprises a godly physique since his WWE days. As it seems, before developing a godly structure, Dwayne Johnson must have been extremely cute as a child, as he was often mistaken for being a girl. He explained the situation by stating,
“I sit down next to a kid, and within 60 seconds, he goes, ‘Can I ask you something? I said, ‘Yeah.’ He goes, ‘Are you a boy or a girl? I would say between the ages of 7 and 11, people thought that I was a little girl because I had really soft features and I had really soft Afro hair.”
But despite facing numerous problems on his way to the top, Dwayne Johnson eventually overcame the hurdles and is generally regarded as one of the biggest names in the world of entertainment.
Source: The Pivot Podcast
